painter. Charity was her chosen
domain; the education of the lowly her passion. The Pestalozzi-Froebel
House is her monument; the Museum of Industrial Arts in the Koniggratzer
Strasse is perhaps more representative of her artistic efforts than any
other institution in Berlin. It is said that the princess chose, if she
did not design, each of its sculptured groups, its metal castings, its
fine mosaics and ornaments. Hans Holbein the Younger and Peter Visher,
the famous brass founder, stand at its portal; life-sized figures round
the building represent the mechanical arts: the loom, the printing
press, the potter's wheel, the student's desk; the frieze above
represents the great epochs of art and sculpture. The Victoria Lyceum,
which we have mentioned above, testifies to her great interest in the
higher culture of women. Space forbids us to follow the years of peace,
of achievements, of joys and griefs in the princely household, the loss
of the beloved young Prince Waldemar; the political controversies which
followed the princess's disapproval of many measures, in the inner
policy of Prussia, taken by Bismarck; and at last the long and hopeless
illness of her consort, her touching sympathy and devoted care of him
until his death on June 15, 1888, and certain medical altercations that
disturbed her years of sorrow and mourning.

It would hardly be proper to speak at length of Augusta Victoria, the
present Empress of Germany, who stands now in the prime of her life and
activity for her nation and her own family. She is a princess of
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, who became the consort of
the ruler of the German Empire instead of becoming a ruling princess of
a petty grand duchy, the rightful inheritance of her house, which became
part and parcel of the empire by two great wars. Married in February,
1881, to the present emperor, she is the mother of six sons and one
daughter, all of whom are worthy scions of the Hohenzollern race, which
has furnished the world with more great rulers than perhaps any other
dynasty that ever ruled over the fate of a great nation. The empress is
the crystallized type of a noble German wife and mother on the throne.
She is profoundly religious and especially active in the duties of a
devout Christian; she has built many churches; she is the protectress of
the Elizabeth Children's Hospital, of several great Evangelical
missions, and of the Patriotic Women's League. It is difficult t